My computer(Dell Inspiron 7000,win98, PII) acts strange recently. The fan is on almost all time, computer runs very slow.
When I check system info, the process usage is 100% when there is no any program runing or opened.
I did virus scan, found nothing.
Please help.

ChiChi

the computer has 1G free space in Hard drive. I have used Ctrl+Alt+Del to delete all of the runing programs (except syntplpr can not be deleted), CPU usage is still 100%.
chichi

What OS are your running? I am guessing it is either NT/2000/XP, if so then you need to open the task manager again. Once the TM is open choose the "Processes" tab. It will give you a list of all the processes running in the background. It will also list each processes' CPU usage. Once you find the name of the CPU hog, do a search for the name on Google and you should be able to determine the correct course of action. If you have a different OS or dont know what to do with the program post back.

HTH

Alastor

I guess next time I will just look up a few lines to see what OS you are running. Anyway, check the 98 forum looks like paul miller gave you some good info.

Sorry for the confusion.

Alastor

check all the programs that are running....just explore and go to options and check list all folders show or osmethin then go to their propeties and check out what starts up sometimes it just starts with the suste......what else you can do is go to msconfig on the run command to check what starts up..... then defrag everything but I will suggest using the defragment tool that comes with xp (if you got it) use that cuz others suc unless you wanna spend alot of money.....so basically just cool your ram and check any programs that are running that are hiding....defrag and if that dont work....then reinstall and create a partition with ntfs format not fat32

I've had this when running CPU coolers. How most of them work is by making system idle process running at 100% which most monitoring programs see as processor usage? You say there are no programs running! try a Ctrl+Alt+Del to see for sure, many of these programs allow you to hide the task bar icon to stop it from getting too cluttered.

1-its a dell :P
2-try going into start->run "msconfig" then on the upper bar go into startup, and check off all of the ones that arent crucial/you don't want. you will also need to go into general and select "selective startup" using the modified boot.ini file

I've had this when running CPU coolers. How most of them work is by making system idle process running at 100% which most monitoring programs see as processor usage? You say there are no programs running! try a Ctrl+Alt+Del to see for sure, many of these programs allow you to hide the task bar icon to stop it from getting too cluttered.

marcela
http://www.marketingtops.com

I have the same problem. I have a Dell Inspiron 2650 very new. CPU usage goes up to 100%. In the Task Manager, it is either "System" or "Outlook.exe" that uses it. I've been able to talk to Microsoft about the Outlook issue and so far it is unresolved. Below is a history of what I've tried for each problem and the results:

Run Windows in Safe Mode: This was bizarre. If I logged on as "Administrator" and started up a new Outlook account, CPU usage was normal. If I logged on as myself, CPU shot up to 100% on second email check. After talking to Microsoft, I made a new logon (which was a pain). It made it fine for the first few days (in normal mode), then Outlook shot up to 100%. Now, if I don't run Outlook, System shoots up to 100%.

System Config Utility: Turning off start-up items has no effect. Turning off all services gets rid of the problem. For a while, turning off "System Restore" seemed to stop "System" from using all of the CPU. But that stopped being effective and I found that turning off both "System Restore" and "Remote Access Connection Manager." I need to have the RACM on when I use my CDMA modem, and CPU usage is fine w/ RACM on as long as I'm not connected via ethernet. Since I created the new logon, turning off System Restore and RACM has not alleviated the CPU usage problem.

I'm currently in safemode in the new logon with Outlook running and so far so good. I'll keep troubleshooting, but everytime I think I solved the problem it comes back. Anyone figure this out yet?

Everything is fixed! I found this webpage by searching Google:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

It turns out that it was the indexing service. I've turned it off and as soon as I did, the CPU wend down. I've been running outlook all day and using the usual programs with no problems. Hope it works for everyone else with this problem.